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Narrated by Norm Lee
Pete HautmanUnabridged — 3 hours, 33 minutes
Narrated by Norm Lee
Pete HautmanUnabridged — 3 hours, 33 minutes
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In a starred review, PW wrote, "Hautman once again proves his keen ability for characterization and for building suspense in this painfully sad novel," which centers on an introverted math whiz's downward spiral. Ages 12-up. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Gr 7 Up-Seventeen-year-old Dougie takes everything literally, lacks social graces, and is a loner, except, perhaps, for his one friend, athletic and popular Andy Morrow. But readers know almost immediately that something tragic has happened in the recent past: "Andy and I had some bad luck with fires when we were kids. We're more careful now." Other students feel threatened by Dougie's disturbing behavior and react by targeting him with cruelty and violence, which only serves to escalate his descent into unreality, isolation, and obsession. The teen has been working for nearly three years on his model railroad set, using 22,400 headless matches to build a bridge connecting portions of the "Madham Line." As his life deteriorates, this obsession and his nightly talks with Andy are the only things that keep him clinging to normalcy. He resists the help of his psychiatrist and hides his medication. Ultimately, he is forced to remember what actually happened on that fateful night. With its excellent plot development and unforgettable, heartbreaking protagonist, this is a compelling novel of mental illness.-Susan Riley, Mount Kisco Public Library, NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Dougie Hanson is invisible to nearly everyone in this haunting, lonely tale. He's extremely close to his best friend, Andy, even though Andy's a popular athlete. When they aren't together, Dougie works on the elaborate model train he's been building for nearly three years; the 11-foot-long suspension bridge built of matchsticks is nearly done. The bridge contains 22,400 matches in all (Dougie likes both numbers and matches). As the bridge approaches completion, glimpses from Doug's eyes reveal a life more troubled than he admits. His parents worry, his therapist asks if he's taking his meds and a female schoolmate accuses him of stalking. The mentally ill Dougie, who evokes echoes of Faulkner with his unreliable narration, is confronted with truths he can't bear. The deceptively simple prose doesn't keep secrets from its readers, but Dougie's harrowing mysteries are no less tragic for their visibility. (Fiction. 12-16)
"Echoes of Faulkner."
— Kirkus
"With its excellent plot development and unforgettable, heartbreaking protagonist, this is a compelling novel of mental illness."
— School Library Journal, starred review
"Hautman once again proves his keen ability for characterization and for building suspense."
— Publishers Weekly, starred review
Dougie isn’t taking his meds like he should as he continues to feverishly work on his model train town, constructed almost completely on matches. Dougie is beyond troubled, and Norm Lee’s performance of an obsessive teen in deep levels of delusion is nothing short of amazing. Lee gives Dougie’s “logical” explanations an aggressive edge that indicates someone hostile. Lee also conveys hints about how others view Dougie even when Dougie can’t recognize their perception of him. Lee does an admirable job portraying Dougie’s therapist, complete with smoker’s voice, and Dougie’s father, who sounds a bit mentally ill himself. Through Lee’s narration, listeners will quickly become aware that Dougie’s life is not how he tells it and will hang on every word they hear. J.M.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
| BN ID: | 2940170671878 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Recorded Books, LLC |
| Publication date: | 02/01/2013 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
Chapter One: My Best Friend
There is something about trains. The sound they make. The way they go by, one car after another after another after another. Every car different but somehow the same. And the tracks go on forever, connecting places, connecting people. Wherever you are, you could go to the nearest railroad track right now, and if you followed it long enough, you would find me.
There is another thing to know about trains. They are large and dangerous. They would crush you if they could, but they are confined by those two narrow strips of steel. Trains are like fire. You don't want to get in their way.
My grandfather left me his HO scale model railroad when he passed on. One locomotive, seven cars, and sixteen feet of track. That's another reason I like trains -- they connect me to him, wherever he is. You could say that my railroad, the Madham Line, is almost the most important thing in my life. Next to Andy Morrow, my best friend.
A guy like Andy might have more than one best friend. He is so popular that there are at least five kids at school who would probably claim him. But if you asked Andy who was his best friend, he would say, "Dougie Hanson, of course." And that would be me.
I'm a quiet kid, pretty much invisible -- except if you happen to notice me standing next to Andy. We grew up together, Andy and me. Next door, actually. We met at the age of one year and three months. Our birthdays are only seventeen days apart. We are like Velcro, like two poles of a magnet, like peanut butter and jelly, like superglue. We are best friends by every definition. Best friends. Best. Friends.
It doesn't matter to Andy Morrow that I have crooked teeth and poor coordination and wear stupid clothes. It wouldn't matter if I had a nose like a pig and smelled of Limburger cheese. Andy would still say, "Dougie is my best friend."
True, Andy might spend more time with other kids who claim to be his best friend. He might hang with the other football players, and his friends on the student council, and his golfing friends, and his theater friends, but he always comes home at night and opens his bedroom window and calls out across the low picket fence, "Hey, Dougie!"
And if my window is open, and if I'm awake, we talk.
It does not matter that we don't spend as much time together as we used to. I tell Andy all about the new tank car I bought for the Madham Line. I might talk about my mother's latest crossword puzzle, or a book I read about black holes, or a math test I took in school, and Andy would listen. That is what best friends do.
And if Andy wants to talk about the school play he is starring in, or his latest football game, or a girl he met...I'll listen to him, too.
It does not matter to Andy that we live in completely different realities. I'm Andy's best friend. It does not matter to Andy that we hardly ever actually do anything together.
Why should it? We are best friends, me and Andy. Best. Friends.
Copyright © by 2005 Peter Hautman
Continues...
Excerpted from Invisible by Pete Hautman Copyright © 2005 by Pete Hautman. Excerpted by permission.
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